Arran Machrie Moor Cask Strength 3rd Edition (2016 Release)

Not very peated an fruity. Nice.

I previously had a bottle of the Arran Machrie Moor but only the regular 46% ABV version. That bottle was empty surprisingly quickly. I really liked it and that made me particularly interested in the cask strength version of it. On the nose a very classic peat included in a great smooth fruitiness. As I am a fan of Arran whisky in general (which is usually unpeated) I recognize a familiar fruit - wood - spice mix which pushes the peat into the background after some time nosing it. The 56.2% ABV are barely noticeable. There are sweet cookies on the nose, gooseberry jam, salty butter, cold herbal tea (with peppermint), apple sauce. The palate arrives intensely with that high ABV right of the bat and cold peat. Then it becomes acidic like lemon peel and slowly more sweet. The finish is a bid like cold bread roasted on a barbecue the day after. Interestingly enough this one at cask strength isn’t as good at the regular 46% version. Some added water makes it much more accessible in way that you get some fresh orchard fruits and fresh black pepper and a more mellow character over all. Interesting for sure. Shows that Arran understands peated whisky as well and I am really looking forward to some of their sherried peat expression. They have some limited releases in that range and also an exclusive bottling called Fingals Cut. They are not easy to get but I think they might be worth it. Also I really am looking forward to first official releases from Lagg Distillery which is Arrans peat-distillery that is operating for a few year already in a standalone location on the isle of Arran. Exiting things going on there in the south west.

Really fresh peat notes. The sting of the 58% is real. Smells sweet like a teriyaki beef jerky. Behind the alcohol burn there is a lovely full underlying sweetness of red apples, grass, dried plum, and pure chocolate. The finish is surprisingly short with a little weird bitterness like orange pith and overextracted coffee.

I preferred the Caol Ila moscatel finish. This one is an interesting dram, you get an intense sweet peat hit up front which immediately dissipates and a blast of ethanol washes the flavour away a leaves a long warming glow then a weird pear flavour on the mid tongue. Interesting but not a big fan.

Smagt first edition, 58,4%